CN1241342A - Method and apparatus for calculating - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method, an apparatus and an arrangement for calculating the value of an amount in a first currency in terms of a desired second currency. The method comprises the steps of entering the value of an amount in the first currency into a controller of a receiver (1). A scaling factor describing a conversion between at least two different PLMN units is retrieved from a memory within the receiver. The amount of the first currency is then converted to the equivalent amount of the second currency by the controller which is adapted to use the scaling factor for the conversion. Finally, a user interface (3) of the receiver (1) is used to inform the user of the conversion result. The apparatus performing the inventive method is included in a mobile station and the arrangement is included in the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN).

Description

Calculation method and device

The present invention relates to a method of calculating the value of an amount of a first currency expressed in a desired second currency, and more particularly to deriving a given price of another currency by a mobile station. The invention further relates to devices and arrangements for implementing the inventive method.

A common problem for travelers when abroad is being able to estimate and/or calculate prices in their more familiar home currency. To facilitate such various exchange rates, scales or tables and similar simple mechanical tools are known, as well as electronic calculators, even programmable electronic calculators.

However they have certain disadvantages. Watches and similar instruments quickly become obsolete due to exchange rate fluctuations. The same is true for calculators that have reprogrammable exchange rates stored in their storage means. A further problem lies in the fact that travelers have to carry such a watch, scale or calculator with them, which means more to remember to bring and take care of.

Due to the fact that mobile phones are becoming more and more popular, even travelers, especially those who travel for business purposes, carry mobile phones with them when they go abroad, because even abroad they can use the same mobile phone as at home or tower. Analog and digital mobile telephony as well as mobile telephony networks and devices and equipment are well known to those skilled in the art and therefore will not be described in detail. In this description the term "network" generally refers to all the devices needed to run a network, so it is intended to include operators, switches, switches, base stations and similar others. The noun home network refers to the network for which the user is a user. The term "local network" refers to the network where the user is currently located, which can be a home network or an extranet.

ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) Regulations GSM 02.86 (ETS 300, 519: European Digital Telecommunications System (Phase 2); Advice of Charge (AoC) Additional Services Part 1), in December 1995, published the "Advice of Charges" (Advice of Charge-AoC) service, which is incorporated herein by reference.

Said AoC service provides the user with information representing the estimated cost of the call or utilized service, ie the cost of each available usage of the telecommunication service. An AoC service is subscribed to a service provider, such as the home network operator who initiated the AoC service.

Users find this service useful when estimating the actual costs incurred by using a mobile phone. The fee is always expressed in the national currency unit, and its value is stipulated and published by the HPLMN (Home Public Land Mobile Network-Home Public Land Mobile Network), regardless of the LPLMN (Local Public Land Mobile Network Local Public Land Mobile Network) in which the fee is incurred. Network) or regardless of the direction of the call or regardless of the type of call that contains additional service and data elements. In other words, this service cannot perform any calculations between various currencies.

Another ETSI regulation GSM 02.24 (ETS 300,510: European digital cellular Cellular Telecommunications Systems (Phase 2); Advice of Charge (AoC) Additional Service - Phase 3), November 1994, describes the "Advice of Charge Information" (CAI) service. These procedures are also incorporated herein by reference.

The CAI service provides several additional features to AoC, such as more precise information about calls and costs. The necessary CAI information on a per-call basis is provided to the mobile phone or mobile station at the charging point within the signaling message on the radio interference. The mobile phone uses the CAI information to calculate the AoC value for the associated call. Signaling CAI thus not only provides charging information, but also indicates charging points and thus initiates the timing of charging times. According to this procedure, the information sent to the mobile phone consists of 7 elements disclosed in the following table:

Table l unit dimension description e1 u/i unit/interval e2 t/i second/time interval e3 - conversion factor e4 u unit increment e5 u/d unit/data interval e6 seg/d i segment/data interval e7 initial seconds/interval

From the table above, element e3 defines the conversion factor from LPLMN units to HPLMN units, said element e3 being the dimensionless multiplier. e3 is set according to the variables of LPLMN and related HPLMN. If the LPLMN is an HPLMN, that is, the mobile phone is in the home network, e3 will be simplified to 1. The e3 unit of the CAI allows the mobile phone to charge for calls in a currency of the user's choice. The protocol also defines the PUCT (Per Unit Charge and Currency Table), which is the value of the national unit in the currency chosen by the user and stored in the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) of the mobile phone. The user may set a currency value in PUCT that corresponds to a value in national units different from the value in HPLMN published currency units in order to include additional charges. Currency indication is part of PUCT.

However, the above services do not provide any assistance for prices or charges other than those incurred for making telephone calls or using other services provided by the mobile station.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a novel solution for conversion between different currencies.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method and an arrangement enabling conversion between different currencies using a mobile phone.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide methods and arrangements that enable calculations with updated exchange rates.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and arrangement capable of providing the latest exchange rate information to a user of a mobile phone.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be described in the following part of the description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

According to the invention, these objects are achieved by providing a method for calculating the value of an amount of a first currency expressed in a desired second currency. Said method comprises the steps of entering a value of a first amount of currency in a control device of a receiver, retrieving a conversion factor from a memory device of said receiver, said conversion factor describing the difference between at least two different PLMN units conversion of said amount of said first currency into an equivalent amount of said second currency by said control means adapted to use said conversion factor for conversion, and by the user of the receiver The interface notifies the user of the conversion result.

A mobile station according to the invention comprises control means; storage means for storing conversion factors describing the conversion ratio between at least two PLMN units; means for inputting a first currency amount into said control means, said control means adapted to retrieve said conversion factor from storage means and to convert said amount of said first currency by said conversion factor into an equivalent desired amount of second currency; and being operatively connected to A user interface on the control device and configured to provide appropriate information to the user.

According to the invention, in an arrangement in a public land-based mobile network (PLMN) in which at least one mobile station is a subscriber, means for generating, storing and transmitting to said mobile station a scaling factor comprising means for means for receiving an amount given in a first currency and control means operably connected thereto, wherein said control means is adapted to convert said amount given in a first currency by said conversion factor for conversion an equivalent amount of the second currency, and user interface means for notifying the user of said conversion result.

Several advantages are obtained with the present invention. This solution provides a simple, reliable and software-controlled method to calculate prices in various currencies. The invention relieves the traveler from carrying other means for calculating prices in various currencies in addition to the mobile station the traveler already owns. Furthermore, the user is offered the possibility to take advantage of updated exchange rates.

The present invention, together with other objects and advantages, is described hereinafter by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like features throughout the several views. It should be understood that the following exemplary description of the invention is not meant to limit the invention to the particular forms presented in this respect, but that the invention is intended to cover the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. All modifications, analogs and substitutes within the scope.

Figures 1a and 1b are schematic views of possible mobile phone displays according to the invention;

Figure 2 discloses schematically an embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 1 a and b disclose a schematic view of a mobile phone 1 comprising a housing 2 , a display 3 , control buttons or keying means 4 and an antenna 5 . For clarity, the main internal components of the mobile phone 1 are not shown, such as a circuit board containing a software-based control means of the CPU (Central Processing Unit), and storage means such as ROM or RAM memory or fixed internal memory or SIM card memory. And I/O devices (input/output devices) for the above components. All these components of a mobile phone are basically known to those skilled in the art and therefore will not be described in detail here.

The inventive phone of Figures 1a and b includes a special menu option "Conversion Calculator", shown as being selected in Figure 1a. The user (not shown) has dialed the exemplary amount 1000 DEM using the keypad 4 and the display 3 asks to confirm the amount by pressing the enter key. It should be noted that the key may be any suitable key such as "OK", "Yes", etc. buttons known to those skilled in the art. In addition, other methods such as voice recognition or a touch screen can also be used to enter this amount. Since the mobile phone has been informed about the network used (see Figure 2) and thus the country in which it is used, it can automatically assume the currency used in that particular country. This configuration causes the mobile phone to default to this currency.

As can easily be seen from Figure 1b, the display 3 then shows the same amount in another currency, eg in the user's own currency. The conversion is performed by the mobile phone software, which uses the conversion factor (unit e3 of the CAI service described above), by which it multiplies the amount entered to obtain the same amount in national currency units.

Said element e3 is a dimensionless multiplier and defines a conversion factor that can be used to convert from local PLMN units to home PLMN units. Currently its value range has been defined as 0-81.91 with a resolution of 0.01. However, these values are easily changed, and thus the above values may also be changed.

As stated, e3 is one of the CAI units, itself defined in the scaled analysis tree. The scaling factor, element e3, is obtained from the analysis tree. When utilizing the present invention to process the AoC analysis tree in scaling, the following commands can be used:

-MGCCI: mobile phone, notification charge currency rate, activation

- MGCCE: mobile phone, notification charge currency rate, end

-HGCCC: mobile phone, notification charge currency rate, change

-MGCCP: mobile phone, notification charge currency rate, print

From the above command, the e3 unit used to convert the local PLMN unit to the home PLMN unit is defined with the command MGCCI. If e3 equals 1, no conversion is necessary since there is no difference between the exchange rates of the two currencies concerned.

Therefore, the conversion calculator of the present invention utilizes call-related supplementary services (SS) calls provided to mobile subscribers (MS), and the required modifications to the existing hardware and software of the mobile telephone network are essential for those skilled in the art. It is easy for the skilled person to carry out after reading this specification of the present invention.

It should be pointed out that the format, text and/or messages displayed by the display 3 are not limited to those shown in Fig. limit its scope.

It should also be noted that although the mobile station is disclosed as a mobile telephone 1, many other types of mobile units could readily be used in conjunction with the present invention. The mobile unit may, for example, be in the form of a simple receiver adapted to receive the conversion factor e3 and thus be able to perform the required calculations between the various currencies.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The motor vehicle containing the mobile telephone unit 1 crosses the boundary line 9 , which substantially approaches the area of the local operator and thus enters the network of the local operator controlled by the switching device 7 . The mobile telephone unit 1 sends a signaling 11 via the base station 8 to the local operator switch 7 to inform the local operator, ie the switching device 7, of the access. The HLR (Home Location Register) or VLR (Visitor Location Register) or similar functional parts of the exchange 7 will register any new mobile phones that enter the network because they are roaming or have switched on the phone after having entered the network and/or are there. One stage communicates with the home operator of the mobile telephone unit 1 to receive any additional information that may be required.

At this point the scaling factor e3 (or even several scaling factors) is transmitted back to the mobile telephone unit 1 with the signal 13 together with the above-mentioned other CAI information elements (e1-e7). The conversion factor e3 is then stored in a storage device such as a SIM card or fixed memory or random access storage device of the mobile telephone unit 1 for use by the control device or program in an appropriate manner, as explained above in connection with Figures 1a and b.

In order to perform the above operations, the local PLMN analyzes the mobile subscribers in the PLMN where the user is located at the given time, including MCC (mobile country code: 3 digits), MNC (mobile network code: 1-2 digits) and MSIN (mobile IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) in order to be able to send said conversion factor e3 for that particular region to the mobile phone for storage in its storage means.

The conversion factor can be entered into the mobile phone the first time a user who has entered that given currency zone calls with his phone. According to an alternative embodiment, the scaling factor is sent to the home network as soon as the phone detects a new foreign mobile phone entering the network area.

Those skilled in the art will understand that the network includes all necessary devices and functions not described in detail here. A network consists of devices such as switches, switches, trunks, base stations, etc. and the operators who run the network. The term network in this context can also be understood as a combination of several local networks, since the configuration can consist of only one network or a small number of networks or from several networks forming a global system.

The present invention can also provide alternative displays and/or services than those shown and described above. For example, a user might want to know the latest exchange rates. For this purpose the user selects the "Exchange Rate" menu option, after which the display shows the most recently updated exchange rate. The display can also display simultaneously or in a predetermined order all information related to the conversion, such as the conversion factor used, the currency code corresponding to the first currency, that is, the currency that the user enters into the phone, and the corresponding amount of the second currency and the second currency. currency code.

According to one embodiment, the arrangement according to the invention includes an automatic update feature according to which the e3 unit is updated once every given period, for example once a day etc., or upon occurrence of exchange rate changes exceeding predetermined limits of allowable variation unit. This may be configured to adapt the telephone unit to request an update after a predetermined period of time or to have the network arrangement contain control means which automatically provide the necessary update information to the mobile telephone.

According to an alternative embodiment, the user may request an updated exchange rate by selecting the menu option "Update Exchange Rate". In this case the phone will send a signal via the base station to the exchange asking for an update of the unit e3 of the CAI information, which will then transmit this information back to the mobile phone. According to an alternative embodiment, the phone can make a short call to a certain predetermined telephone number in the home network or any other predetermined network, in which the updated value of the e3 unit is transmitted back to the phone, this certain code can be used as The menu options are either stored in the phone's memory as quick access numbers, or the user can dial said predetermined number for updates each time an update is desired.

Even the mobile phone or network control unit could be programmed to track changes in the exchange rate and possibly provide a useful display to show the change over the last 24 hours, seven days, etc. The phone could even be adapted to alert if the change in the exchange rate exceeds a predetermined "threshold" of acceptable fluctuation.

Thus, the present invention provides apparatus and methods which achieve significant improvements in the field of calculating exchange rates and estimating prices in various currencies. It should be noted, however, that the above examples of embodiments of the invention are not intended to limit the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims (18)

1. A method of calculating the value of an amount of a first currency in terms of a desired second currency comprising the steps of: Enter the value of the first currency amount into the control unit of the receiver, retrieving a conversion factor from a storage device of the receiver, the conversion factor describing a conversion between at least two different PLMN units, converting said amount of said first currency into an equivalent amount of said second currency with said control means adapted to utilize said conversion factor of the conversion, and The user interface of the receiver is used to notify the user of the conversion result. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the converting step includes multiplying said amount in said first currency by said conversion factor to obtain said amount in said second currency. 3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising the step of transmitting said scaling factor from the local PLMN to the mobile station. 4. A method according to claim 3, wherein said scaling factor is transmitted to said mobile station as part of an "Advice of Charge" service (AoC). 5. A method according to claim 4, wherein said conversion factor is contained in one element (e3) of seven information elements (e1 to e7) of the "Charge Advice Information" (CAI) service. 6. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said scaling factor is updated automatically by an update service provided by at least one PLMN. 7. A method according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the user makes said telephone call by selecting the appropriate menu option for the request or by making said telephone call to a predetermined telephone number suitable for providing updated information as a response to a call to request an update to the conversion factor. 8. A method according to any of claims 1-5, wherein the scaling factor is updated when the mobile station makes a first telephone call in the home PLMN area after entering said area. 9. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said first currency is input into the mobile station control means via key means or voice recognition means or touch screen means of the mobile station. 10. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said local PLMN analyzes the IMSI of the mobile station to receive required information, such as MCC, MNC and MSIN code, in order to be able to transmit appropriate scaling factors to said mobile station. 11. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said first currency is the currency of the country or region in which the mobile station is currently connected to the home PLMN. 12. A mobile station comprising: control device, storage means for storing a conversion factor describing a conversion ratio between at least two PLMN units, means for inputting an amount of a first currency into said control means, said control means is adapted to retrieve said conversion factor from storage means and use said conversion factor to convert said amount in said first currency into a required equivalent amount in a second currency, and A user interface is operatively connected to said control device and configured to provide appropriate information to a user. 13. A mobile station according to claim 12, wherein said control means is arranged to multiply said amount of said first currency by said conversion factor to obtain an equivalent value in the second currency. 14. A mobile station according to claim 12 or 13, wherein it further comprises means for receiving and storing said scaling factor from the home PLMN. 15. A mobile station according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein said user interface is a mobile station display. 16. An arrangement in a public land based mobile network (PLMN) in which at least one mobile station is its subscriber, comprising means for generating, storing and transmitting scaling factors to said mobile station, Said mobile station comprises means for receiving an amount given in a first currency and control means operatively connected therein, wherein said control means is adapted to convert the amount in the first currency using said conversion factor for conversion. said amount given in one currency converted into an equivalent amount in a second currency, and User interface means for notifying a user of said conversion result. 17. Arrangement according to claim 16, wherein said scaling factor is contained in one element (e3) of 7 information elements (e1 to e7) of the "Charge Advice Information" (CAI) service and is included as "Charge Advice Information" (CAI) service Notification" service (AoC) part of the transmission to the mobile station. 18. Arrangement according to claim 16 or 17, wherein said scaling factor is updated by an update service provided by at least one of the PLMNs comprised in the arrangement.

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